Xavier Football

9 Metro gridders named all-state

Nine football players from the Metro area have been named all-state by the Des Moines Register.

Julian Good-Jones and Connor Vincent of Cedar Rapids Washington were named to the elite all-state squad after helping the Warriors finish 13-1 and reach the Class 4A finals. Good-Jones was selected on the offensive line and Vincent was named at linebacker.

Reid Snitker of Washington made the Class 4A first team as a defensive back. Bryce Meeker of Prairie was named first team in 4A on the offensive line and JoJo Simpson of Prairie was named to the second team in 4A on the defensive line.

Three members of the Xavier Saints were honored as second-team selections in Class 3A. Tim Otting was selected on the offensive line, Jay Kortemeyer was named at running back and Michael Maher was named to the defensive line.

Eric Gustafson of Cedar Valley Christian was named second team all-state on defense in Eight-Player football.

Saints, Indians make all-district football

Seven members of the Xavier High School football team have been named to the top squad on the Class 3A District 4 all-star team.

Nic Ekland, Thomas Ickes, Dylan Eller, Michael Maher, Jay Kortemeyer, Tim Otting and Louis Hasley were named first team all-district for the Saints.

Camden Stovie, Matt Downey, Noah Clasen and Bryce Schulte were named second team all-district from Xavier. Joe Welch and Logan Brown were named to the academic all-district team.

Hayden Meister and Jack Serbousek of Marion High School were named to the all-district first team. Devin Quinn, John Carstensen, Kyle Van Meter and Kory Walsh were named second team all-district for the Indians.

Meister, Carter Stigge, Austin Loney, Eli Frazier, Austin Brown, Derek Smith, Jacob Deeter, Alex Gaffney and Ryan Whalen made the academic squad.

No.1 Pella crushes Saints in 3A semis

CEDAR FALLS - The tulips in Pella will never look as pretty to Xavier football fans after what happened to their beat-up team in the UNI-Dome Thursday night.

In fact, the Saints might want to skip the next few tulip festivals in the old Dutch town entirely.

Pella and all-star quarterback Noah Clayberg proved their No. 1 billing in the state was no fluke Thursday by handing the 10th-ranked Saints their worst loss of the season, 27-0, in the semifinals of the Class 3A playoffs.

The Dutch held Xavier to a grand total of 49 yards of offense, including minus-2 yards on the ground and a skimpy 51 yards through the air (nearly all of it on one play in the fourth quarter).

Meanwhile, Clayberg rushed for 117 yards, passed for 112 yards, had a 35-yard punt return and executed a perfect 33-yard pooch punt to the 1-yard line.

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Saints face big obstacle in No. 1 Pella

The Xavier Saints were quickly made the early favorite to win the Class 3A football title this season after they dropped from Class 4A following the 2013 campaign.

The Saints (9-3) still have an excellent shot of winning the championship as they head into the semifinals against top-ranked Pella (12-0) Thursday night at 8:21 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, but they are no longer the prohibitive favorite.

Creston (10-2) faces No. 3 Sioux City Heelan (11-1) in the other semifinal Thursday at 5:36 p.m.

There have been several twists and turns for the Saints on their way to the UNI-Dome. They lost their season opener to Dowling in a rematch of the Class 4A finals from last year, which was no big surprise. Dowling has reached the Class 4A semifinals again this year and has a powerful team.

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